Title: Thankful

Author: Isiri

Pairing: Team 7 friendship

Warning: Horribly written and bondage of the Lurkey variety.

A/N: Oh my, another spur of the moment thing. It's only four pages, but I like it. Story themed for Thanksgiving because everyone has someone or something to be thankful for, and dedicated to my friends, family and understar-san, because I am thankful for all of you.

Disclaimer: Naruto and all related characters and logos belong to Kishimoto-sensei. The turkey belongs to . . . well, itself I guess. But I own the Lurkey! XD

Remember the three R's, everyone: Read, Ravish, and Review.

"I can't believe this! We're sixteen years old, sixteen years old! And jounin! They can't make us do this; we should be out doing A-Rank missions, risking our lives, fighting bad guys and kicking butt!"

The next thing Uzumaki Naruto knew he was on his butt, the object that knocked him over running past him, making gobbling sounds.

"Naruto, stop complaining and focus on the mission!" Naruto pushed himself up off the ground and turned to face the pink haired kunoichi as she slowed her run and then stopped completely at his side. "But Sakura-chan-"

"No 'buts'! Stop daydreaming and help us catch the god-dammed thing already!" she screamed in his face and raised her fist to his eye level.

The threat was clearly understood. The blond knew exactly what the curled hand could do, so he was off running across the field to where the feathered creature had stopped briefly to watch the little squabble between team-mates before anything happened to him.

Sakura growled in frustration at the pathetic little noises that came from Naruto's mouth. "He could at least get the stupid call right." Running a hand through her hair she watched as the orange blur commonly known as her teammate switched tactics and started flapping his arms in an imitation of a bird's wings, clucking loudly.

Cold black eyes followed their only other team-mate's form along with his companion. "Hn. He's got a point though. We are jounin and we deserve higher then a C-Ranked mission like this, no matter how important Hokage-sama says the capture of this bird is."

They stayed silent, neither wanting to voice the real reason they weren't assigned A- or B-ranked missions anymore--that Sasuke simply wasn't trusted yet.

Their silence wasn't awkward, but it wasn't peaceful either. Instead, it was . . .

"Oi! What are you two doing over there, making out? Hurry up and help me already!" Sakura blushed and told the blond to shut up while Sasuke just rolled his eyes.

"Sorry, Naruto, I should have realized catching an over-sized bird would be too hard for you." Smirking, Sasuke accepted Naruto's yelled challenged and resumed chasing after the bird himself.

It was a sight she had only begun to get used to seeing again. The familiar scene of her two teammates competing against each other, just like they had when they were young, made her feel complete. These moments were what made it seem as though nothing had happened. That they'd never met Orochimaru, the Akatsuki had never existed, that they'd never left each other's lives and gone their separate ways and nothing had changed.

A loud boom echoed throughout the open grass field, and the clearing smoke revealed a coughing Sasuke was now trying to kill Naruto, who'd tried to catch their prey with the help of a few exploding tags.

Sakura smiled softly. No matter what though, she knew these moments would never last forever. Every time a mission ended, so did the time they spent together, and each day she watched as her two boys left, both going to their respective homes with nothing more then a simple good bye. Team Seven would never be the same again, because, even though she wished every night for things to go back to the way they had been all those years ago, she knew that nothing would ever be the same again because things had changed too much.

"Sakura, snap out of it!" Instantly breaking out of her thoughts, she squealed and dove out of the way as three blurs raced past her. Pulling herself together, she saw Sasuke look back over his shoulder at her and yell again. "Come on already!" Without another thought, she joined the chase.

Three hours later, Naruto leaned against a large tree, poking at the team's bound and gagged (Sasuke hated its "annoying gobbling noise") prey, as Sasuke lounged in the branch above him and Sakura sat at his right. "Would you quit being so mean to it, Naruto?"

His blue eyes met hers. "Why? The bird's gonna die once we give it to those people anyway." The poking continued.

"Don't say that around it!" she shouted back instantly, which extracted an immediate response from him.

"It is the truth! Kakashi-sensei said that our clients want the bird for some ceremony or something, which means it's gonna be killed. I bet it'll be sacrificed for some god or something."

Sasuke looked down towards the two. "Idiot; it's for a feast. It's traditional to eat this bird every first week of this month in this village. Didn't you read the mission briefing?"

Sakura, sensing a storm brewing, quickly changed the subject. "Speaking of this bird, do you remember what Kakashi-sensei called it? Was it a lurk? No, I think it was lurkay . . ." the kunoichi trailed off, not sure.

"No way, it was a lurkey, Sakura-chan. Hm, then again, I think it might have been hurkey--no, gurkey . . . or maybe it was a turkey. Nah, that one doesn't sound right either."

"Don't think to hard, Naruto, you don't want to hurt yourself."

"Oh, right! Thanks, Sasuke- HEY! You fucking bastard, get your skinny ass down here and say that to my face!" Naruto threatened the Uchiha.

"Well, anyways, Kakashi-sensei said they used this day to celebrate what they are thankful for. Isn't that really neat? I wonder if we should do that; do you think that would be a good idea? We could invite everyone, and-" Realizing her two companions were completely ignoring her (and that Naruto was now crouching next to Sasuke on the branch, glaring intently at him), Sakura became a little mad. A few seconds later she was a little madder. Another few more seconds later and-

Crash!

-London Bridge came falling down. Or rather, the poor tree she had just punched did, along with the two teens in it. Poor, poor tree.

"Now, now, Sakura, that wasn't being very nice to the tree. Just imagine how long it's going to take for a new one to grow." Hatake Kakashi smiled as his only female student huffed and crossed her arms across her chest, his abrupt appearance not causing her to flinch like it had three years ago.

"It's not my fault those two were being rude and ignoring me. I mean, all I was doing was trying to have a nice little chat with my teammates, but oh no! They just went off and started attacking each other. Oh, and here's the lurkey or whatever it's called, Sensei." The petrified bird, who'd just survived being crushed by the fallen oak tree by mere inches, made a strangled gurgling sound as the student passed it over to the teacher. Examining the bird carefully, Kakashi smiled and pet its head. "Don't worry," he told it, "Sakura's a really nice girl; she can just be really scary sometimes."

"What was that, Sensei? Did you say something?" The innocent voice was laced with an underlining threat that every ninja in the Hidden Leaf knew to take seriously. Laughing nervously, Kakashi responded, "No, nothing, Sakura-chan." He always used that suffix when he thought he might be in danger of bodily harm.

"Okay." The older man sighed quietly in relief. She sounded cheerful enough; looked like he was off the hook for now. "Alright everyone, lets get back to Konoha." With that they were off, returning back to their village and to their homes.

Later that night, after the mission was complete and Team Seven was about to go their separate ways, Sakura couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to eat that bird and remember what she was thankful for.

Suddenly determined, she called out to her teammates, her friends, her boys. "You guys want to get some ramen with me; my treat." The two in question turned to look at her. Next thing the girl knew Naruto had thrown an arm around her shoulder, smiling brightly, while Sasuke shrugged and said he had nothing better to do anyway. The three walked off together towards Ichiraku, and for once Sakura didn't beat Naruto for touching her and Sasuke didn't try to hide his smile.

Sure, they didn't have a lurkey or whatever the hell it was called, and maybe she didn't know exactly what to do on this day, whether there was some special, traditional way she was supposed to celebrate, like those people from that village did, still . . .

'One thing's for sure,' she declared to herself as Naruto and Sasuke downed as many bowls of ramen as possible in an effort to see who could finish the most servings.

'If I were to say thanks for something, if I were to be thankful for something--'

Sakura laughed and Sasuke smirked as Naruto started choking on his food, his face turning purple from his lack of oxygen.

'--I know for certain that I would be thankful for them.'


A/N: The End.

This was too much fun! I was inspired last night by a Thanksgiving commercial on TV and thus a re-united team seven chasing after a chicken for a plot was born! Add in a little bit of deep thinking from Sakura, Naruto being . . . well, Naruto, and Sasuke being non-bastardy and 'A Naruto Thanksgiving' is born! It's a day early, I know, but I'm going to my dad's tomorrow and I'm only at my mom's today because she gets me this year for Thanksgiving. Well, enough about me. I'd like to wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving! aka. Happy Turkey day, everyone!

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Once again, please review!